The scientific concept of aging and age-related diseases being caused by pathological secretion of accumulated senescent cells has been described in detail in the following: (Campisi, 1998; Davalos, Coppe, Campisi, & Desprez, 2010; Freund, Orjalo, Desprez, & Campisi, 2010; Laberge et al., 2012; Laberge, Awad, Campisi, & Desprez, 2011; Weyand, Fulbright, & Goronzy, 2003). This idea was experimentally tested by Baker et al. (Baker et al., 2011) who demonstrated using an artificial mouse-based model of premature aging the principle of possibility of reverting age-associated phenotypes by selective eradication of senescent cells. However, a recent attempt (believed to be the only of its kind) to identify such pharmacological agents failed to discover small molecules with the desired properties (Laberge et al., 2012).
The general decline of physiological function and increased frequency of specific diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes type II, macular degeneration, chronic inflammation-based pathologies, etc. occur with aging. They are believed to be part of age-related syndrome caused by gradual accumulation in mammalian organism of so-called senescent cells that have undergone irreversible growth arrest in response to activation of oncogenes and/or oxidative stresses. Senescent cells are characterized by specific pattern of gene expression that includes production of a large number of bioactive secreted factors together forming a so-called “pathological secretory phenotype” contributing to general systemic poisoning of the organism that is manifested as one or more age-related syndromes. Selective eradication of senescent cells by pharmacological agents is, therefore, expected to prevent from and treat age-related diseases. However, development of drugs capable of selective killing of senescent cells has not been possible due to lack of knowledge of “Achilles heals” of senescent cells, namely the genes, expression of which are essential for the viability of senescent cells. Thus, there is an ongoing and unmet need to identify targets for selective eradication of senescent cells and for compositions and methods for prophylaxis and therapy of diseases correlated with expression of those targets. The present disclosure meets these and other needs.